Tag: Bernie Sanders

I expect we will soon be hearing that those of us who chose to vote for a candidate that we preferred are to blame for losing this election to a con man. That message would not be true.

You own this. You did not give us a candidate worth voting for, let alone a candidate we could be enthusiastic about. Someone that would have compelled us to donate more of our time, energy and money. It should have been pretty obvious that we were willing to do that.

You cheated us out of a candidate that would have accomplished what you could not. Now, we have to deal with a President Donald and possibly President Pence, which would probably be worse.

So many people don’t understand why people are so upset? It’s not all about Trump. It’s not about losing the election. It has a lot to do with us never having a REAL choice.

You own this. Not anyone else. Not the FBI. Not the Russians. Not Wikileaks. Not a third party. YOU did this to our country.

So help us move forward. Give voice to independent thought. Don’t keep trying to control. It’s obvious that you’ve lost that.

What a difference we would have seen these past few weeks. Not all of it good, mind you. But likely a lot less stressful.

Much of what would have been left out is the knowledge that some of us have gained about gender bias.

I’ve always considered myself fairly aware of women’s issues. Back in the early 70’s, I was engaged with the Women’s Liberation Movement. I do have to admit, though, that I really preferred that it be a “People’s Liberation Movement.”

Men needed to be liberated as much as women did. Liberated from the beliefs that they were of more value than women. That women were there to serve their wishes. To be compliant. Accept what they were given and be thankful for that.

Remembering those days makes we want to throw up.

I’m a privileged white male. One privilege, that I’m very thankful for, was being born into a family dominated by a chauvinistic man. It taught me how I didn’t want to be. I thank my father for that. Very sincerely.

It was what he knew. How he had been socialized.

He also taught me some very wonderful things as well. That family is important, as is integrity, honesty, hard work and playing hard. Many things that I also thank him for teaching me.

I just looked up at the title I gave this post and wonder what caused me to go off on such a tangent. Give me a minute or three and I’ll figure that out. Or not.

Gender Bias. That’s what tripped the switch that sent my train careening down a different track. Such an important issue. Bias of all sorts is important, and that has a lot to do with the acrimonious state we find ourselves in.

I’m going to direct my imagination to a scenario that was possible a few weeks ago. What would it be like if Bernie had won the primary?

What label would The Donald give Bernie? There would be lots to choose from. Old, decrepit Jew? Not going to go there. You can come up with your own.

The labels that won’t fit: dishonest, flip flopping, inauthentic, low energy, for the war in Iraq, for free trade agreements, for regime change, war hawk, or that women are voting for a candidate because she’s a woman.

And a lot of, mostly white, males wouldn’t feel threatened by giving a woman so much power.

The stress level that I feel, and imagine being there for many others, would be much lower because the outcome of the race would not be as doubtful.

I’m not a Hillary supporter. I’ll be voting Green Party. I don’t trust Hillary to follow through on her promises.

But, because Hillary is there, this contest has given us the opportunity to look at our biases. Especially so when it comes to equality of men and women.